On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, Waterloo Police received a report of a man slumped over the wheel in a vehicle at Poplar Avenue and Whittier Avenue. Responding officers found that the driver was dead. The driver was identified as Robert Joseph Shannon, age 34, of Parkersburg, IA.

On Thursday, December 15, 2011, an autopsy was conducted on Shannon at the DCI Laboratory in Ankeny. The autopsy showed that Shannon died of a gun shot wound to the back of the head. The police department is classifying the case as a homicide.